Which Team in the NL Central Has the Best Ace for 2025?

The NL Central has no shortage of talent on the mound, with each team boasting at least one arm capable of leading a rotation. Heading into the 2025 MLB season, the National League Central is one of the scarier divisions in baseball for hitters, with virtually every arm in the division causing an uncomfortable at-bat.

The team with arguably the most pitching talent is the Pittsburgh Pirates. The team boasts one of the game’s top starters, Paul Skenes, and a few other talented arms. Jared Jones, Mitch Keller, and Andrew Heaney also take the hill in PNC Park, creating a truly dangerous rotation.

Three starters in the NL Central also received Cy Young votes in the 2024 MLB season, showcasing the strengths of the division’s rotations. Paul Skenes, Shota Imanaga, and Hunter Greene were the recipients of these votes, alongside each of them receiving an all-star nod back in July.

As we enter the 2025 season, the question is: Which arm on each team stands above the rest?

From established aces to young stars, we’re breaking down the best starting pitcher for each NL Central squad and what sets them apart from the rest of the rotation.

5. Milwaukee Brewers: Brandon Woodruff, RHP

2024 Stats: N/A, spent the whole year on Injured List.

The Milwaukee Brewers currently possess one of the league’s more interesting rotations, as it’s filled with veterans and younger players alike. However, the one name that’ll stand out in 2025, is right-hander Brandon Woodruff.

Unfortunately, Woodruff was sidelined for the entire 2024 season after having shoulder surgery, giving us less to talk about regarding his game. One thing is for certain, though: when Woodruff was on the field in 2023, he was dominant.

In 2023, Woodruff threw 67 innings, dealing with his shoulder throughout this season as well. However, in these 67 innings, Woodruff recorded a 2.28 ERA, 189 ERA+, and 74 strikeouts.

Woodruff is a former two-time all-star, and he’s finished top five in the National League Cy Young voting once as well.

The Brewers have built a pretty solid rotation, boasting excellent arms. Freddy Peralta leads the way, and many could argue that he belongs as the teams’ top arm, but due to the heights Woodruff reached when he was healthy, Woodruff may end up being the better choice.

Tobias Myers, Jose Quintana, Nestor Cortes, and Aaron Civale round out the rotation. While every arm here is interesting in their own way, none of them come close to Woodruff’s potential and Peralta’s argument.

However, with Woodruff’s injuries and uncertainties about how he’ll pitch when healthy again, he’s the lowest ranking ace in the NL Central for 2025.

For Woodruff, 2025 should be his first healthy season in two years, and if he can recapture the success he found before his injury, we could be looking at one of the better righties in baseball.

4. Chicago Cubs: Shota Imanaga, LHP

2024 Stats: 15-3, 173.1 IP, 2.91 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 9.03 K/9, 1.45 BB/9, 3.0 fWAR

Another product of the National League’s loaded rookie class in 2025 was Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga.

Imanaga was stellar during his first season, making a fast impression on the league. Imanaga joined the Cubs during the offseason, inking a four-year, $53 million contract with the club.

Although he wasn’t the top arm coming over from Japan that offseason, his deal was one of the better contracts signed that offseason. He ended up spending more time on the field than the pitcher who overshadowed him, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and he was tremendous.

Imanaga’s ERA finished as the 5th best mark among all qualified starters while posting the second-highest mark among all left-handers. He also posted a three-win season, which placed him inside the top 30 qualified starters. His 137 ERA+ was also the 7th best mark in baseball.

Imanaga’s real talent is his ability to avoid walks. He only surrendered 28 free passes in 173.1 innings pitched. His BB/9 of 1.45 was the 4th best mark in the sport, finishing as the only lefty inside the five.

Seeing Imanaga immediately find this much success after switching leagues was incredibly impressive. He ended up earning an all-star selection, Rookie of the Year votes, and Cy Young votes.

Imanaga is the biggest bright spot in the Cubs rotation, an area that’s been a struggle for the team. The only arm who may rival Imanaga is Justin Steele, who posted a 3.46 ERA in 172 innings last season for the Cubs.

Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd have both been relatively solid at times, but neither arm rivals Imanaga or Steele in any way. Taillon’s ERA crept up over 4.31 last year, and Boyd threw fewer innings while outperforming his xERA by nearly 0.4 points.

Imanaga lands at the number four spot out of the NL Central aces due to being beaten out by the other three starters ahead of him in many areas.

Sonny Gray, for example, threw to a higher fWAR and struck out more batters than Imanaga while showcasing consistent play for numerous seasons, as opposed to this being Imanaga’s rookie year.

With Imanaga performing this well in his first season, it makes me even more excited to see him chase his first career Cy Young Award in 2025.

3. St. Louis Cardinals: Sonny Gray, RHP

2024 Stats: 13-9, 166.1 IP, 3.84 ERA, 3.12 FIP, 10.98 K/9, 2.11 BB/9, 3.8 fWAR

Shota Imanaga wasn’t the only pitcher who made a huge impact on his new team in the NL Central, as Cardinals righty Sonny Gray made a great impression during his first year with the team.

During the offseason, Gray signed a three-year deal worth $75 million, and he was worth every cent of that contract during his first season. Gray was a bright spot in the Cardinals rotation, as they lacked in their pitching overall.

Gray went on to record a 3.84 ERA in 166.1 innings, striking out over 30% of batters he faced, while also recording nearly 4.0 fWAR. This put Gray 15th in fWAR, ahead of a few pitchers who received Cy Young votes in 2024.

Unlike the other pitchers we’ve highlighted in this division, Gray, unfortunately, has no hardware to show for his stellar 2025 season. But, he did join the 200-strikeout club, something only 10 starters did last season.

The Cardinals’ rotation has been a place where they’ve struggled to find consistent innings from many pitchers, making Gray immediately stand out as the top option. Erick Feddee threw fairly well for the team in 2024, recording a 4.21 ERA while being the only pitcher to come close to rivaling Gray.

Miles Mikolas, Andrew Pallante, and Steven Matz round out the rotation for the Cardinals, but none of these arms rival Gray in any way. Pallante and Matz both threw solid innings for the club however, as they both recorded ERAs around 4.00.

Sonny Gray lands here at number three due to the sheer talent of the two pitchers above him. Both Paul Skenes and Hunter Greene performed much better and showcased a lot better tools than Gray.

Gray is slowly entering the latter half of his career, as 2025 will be his age-35 season. However, he’s shown nearly no signs of slowing down anytime soon, as he looks just as dominant as ever.

2. Cincinnati Reds: Hunter Greene, RHP

2024 Stats: 9-5, 150.1 IP, 2.75 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 10.12 K/9, 3.41 BB/9, 3.8 fWAR

The Reds have slowly put together a very solid rotation over the last few seasons, and the player at the forefront of this rotation is flamethrower Hunter Greene.

Greene has always had extremely high expectations, even since the moment he was drafted. When he was drafted in 2017, he signed for just over $7.2 million, making him one of the highest-paid players in MLB Draft history to that point.

Fast forward to 2025, and Greene has found a lot of success in his big-league career. Greene has battled his fair share of injuries to this point, making 2025 the most he’s ever played in the majors. Greene posted nearly a four-win season in 150.1 innings, which makes me incredibly interested to see what he could do with a full year.

Greene is most well-known for his four-seam fastball, which regularly gets into the triple digits. Greene has the record for the most pitches thrown over 100 MPH in a single start, and he did this in just his second career outing.

Similarly to both Skenes and Imanaga, Greene was named to the National League All-Star team in 2024 while also receiving Cy Young votes in the process.

Greene is the main arm who stands out amongst a pretty solid group of arms in the Reds’ rotation. Greene’s sheer talent and his stuff on the mound set him apart from the pack, but this isn’t to discredit what the other arms bring to the table.

Brady Singer, Nick Martinez, Nick Lodolo, and Andrew Abbott take up the rest of the rotation, all producing upside and throwing solid innings when on the field.

The arm with the most potential here is likely Nick Lodolo, a former top-ten overall pick back in the 2019 MLB draft. He produced 2.2 fWAR in 24 games last year, pitching to an ERA slightly over 4.20. The main concern for Lodolo has been his health, so if he stays on the field, we could see him take strides in 2025.

The only reason Greene wasn’t ranked as the top pitcher in the division was due to Paul Skenes’ mind-blowing talent and the level he’s pitched to thus far. However, in some other divisions, Greene could rival the top arms with ease.

2024 was just a preview of what we can expect Greene to do in the majors. If Greene can stay on the field in 2025, and everything goes right, we could see him finish with over 200 strikeouts while being worth over four wins.

1. Pittsburgh Pirates: Paul Skenes, RHP

2024 Stats: 11-3, 133 IP, 1.96 ERA, 2.44 FIP, 11.5 K/9, 2.17 BB/9, 4.3 fWAR

Despite a very strong rotation in Pittsburgh, the clear ace of the squad is 2024 National League Rookie of the Year Award winner, Paul Skenes.

Skenes makes his way to the top of the Pirates rotation after a truly historic rookie season. Skenes’ rookie season was arguably the best season by a rookie starter in MLB history, leading the way in many stats.

His ERA, ERA+, and WHIP all set records for a rookie starter since integration, with his FIP and K/9 both ranking inside the top 10. We truly hadn’t seen a rookie starting pitcher of this caliber in decades, meaning “Skemania” won’t be forgotten.

Not only did Skenes set records for rookie starting pitchers, but he also broke numerous franchise records. His ERA+, WHIP, and K/9 were all records for a Pirates starter.

Due to his MLB debut not coming until May, Skenes didn’t have the counting stats to stack up with the rest of the starters in the league. But, his 4.3 fWAR still ranked 10th in baseball for starters with at least 100 innings pitched.

Skenes will be chasing his first career Cy Young Award in 2025, and if everything goes right, there’s no doubt he could take it home.

Skenes is the head of an incredibly talented rotation, one that gives teams like the Dodgers a run for their money when at it’s full strength. Skenes is joined by Jared Jones, another super talented young right-hander, former all-star Mitch Keller, veteran Andrew Heaney, and Bailey Falter to round out the rotation.

Keller had been the head of the rotation before the 2024 season, with his high strikeout totals and consistent innings being the calling card for his game. Before Skenes’ debut, Jones seemed like he was going to overtake Keller for the top role, pitching very well in the early stages of his career.

When you consider all things, though, it’s not a question as to why Skenes landed at the top of the NL Central ace rankings.

He’s coming off of an amazing rookie season, where he’s already become one of the best pitchers in the world in just 133 innings. Skenes’ reign as the king of NL Central pitchers doesn’t seem to have an end in sight.

Although Skenes’ career is still young, his talent level is very clear. Not only was his rookie season record-setting, but it was the first look we got at a player with the potential to become the top starter in the league.

Final Thoughts/Conclusion (Optional inclusion for whoever edits this)

When taking a look at the top starters in each of the NL Central clubs, we see one common theme: They’re all incredibly dominant, and talented.

While many divisions in baseball are filled with dominant pitching, the NL Central makes a good case for having the best arms in the sport. From Japanese superstars to elite veterans, to young Cy Young caliber arms, this division is filled with pitching talent.

By the end of the 2025 season, I wouldn’t be surprised if the NL Central sees multiple of its pitchers receive Cy Young votes, potentially even possessing the winner of the award.